Growin' Up (Springsteen on Broadway)

I stood stone-like at midnight
Suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair 'till it was just right
And commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain
And I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone
And came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd
But when they said, "Sit down," I stood up

Ooh... growin' up

Well the flag of piracy flew from my mast
My sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate
She couldn't sail but she sure could sing
I pushed B-52 and bombed them with the blues
With my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules
Strafed my old high school
Never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd
When they said
"Come down," I threw up

Ooh... growin' up

"I've never had an honest job in my entire life"
"I've never done any hard labour"
"I've never worked nine to five"
"I've never worked five days a week until
Right now"
"I don't like it"
"I've never seen the inside of a factor
Yet it's all I've ever written about"
"Standing before you is a man who
Has become wildly and absurdly successful
Writing about something of which he has had
Absolutely no personal experience"
"I made it all up"
"That's how good I am"
"Now how, I'm sure you wondering
How did this great great miracle come to pass"
Well, in the beginning there was a great darkness
Upon the waters as a child
It was Christmas, your birthday, summer vacation"
But the rest of life was a life of sucking black hole
A lifeless sucking black hole
Of homework, church, school, homework
Church, school, homework, church,
School, green beans
Green beans, fucking green beans
But then a blinding flash of sanctified
Light, a human being and just a kid
Just a kid from the Southern sticks
But huh
New kinda man and he spilt the world in two and
Suddenly a new world existed
The one below your belt
And
Above your heart
Sunday night 1956, 39 an a half
Institute Street
A cold water flat and into the mind of a 7 year old kid
A revolution had been televised
Right under the noses
Of the powers that be
What would they have known what
Was actually happening
The great changes, the changes that were about
To come
They would have shut this shit down
Or more than likely
Signed it up real quick
Because we the unwashed the invisible
The the powerless, the kids
Would want more
More life, love and more sex and more
Hope and more truth and more power
And more soul
And most of all, more Rock n roll

So I sat with my mom, my little 7 year
Old mind on fire, staring into a blue tube as
The fun happened, fun the real kind
Joyful, life affirming, hip shaking
Earth quaking, guitar playing
Mind and heart changing, race challenging
Soul lifting bliss of a freer existence
A freer existence exploded into unsuspecting
Homes all across America
On a regular Sunday night
The world had fucking changed
In an instant
In a sweating, wet, orgasm of fun
And all you needed to do to
Get a taste of it was to risk
Being your true self
Because a Rock n Roll genie
Had been let out the bottle
And he told us that if you were
Born in the USA my fellow citizens
These feelings, these freedoms
This fun was your birth right
I listened, I believed and I heard
A call to action
So, I studied my new hero
And here he's got the same two
Arms, two legs, two eyes that I got
Yes he is a human Adonis
And I'm oooh pathetically creepy
But I'll figure that part out
The one thing he had that I didn't have was
Wrapped around his waste, it was his guitar
The guitar or as my father had christened
It "That fucking guitar"
But that fucking guitar was the key
It was the sword in the stone
It was the staff of rigorousness
And they sell them at Westaoral down town
For 25 dollars
So I begged and I pleaded with my mother
Just to rent me, because we couldn't afford to buy
A guitar from Mike Deals Music school on
South street, 1:30 afternoon
I brought it home, and I sat on the
Living room coach and I unlatched
It's full alligator key and I slowly opened it up
And up from the green velvet lining
Came the sweet smell
Of a cherry wood cocktail
Power, pleasure, salvation
Dreams and dreams and dreams
So I took lessons, dedicatedly
I took lessons for two solid weeks

And I quite, it was just too fucking
Hard
Learning the guitar, not only was it fucking
Hard, but the lessons were boring
Just give me the three magic cords please
And let me twist and shout
But I was a seven year old kid and
My hands barely fit around the neck and
I couldn't waste my mothers hard earned cash
Week after week so very shortly
I knew back it would have to go
But the morning before I returned it
Strapped it on one more time
I took it to in the backyard where
The neighbourhood kids were
And I put on my first show
Woah, I slapped it, I shook it
I shouted, I sang voodoo nonsense
I burned a hole in the grass
I shook my little 7 year old ass
Wooo, most importantly I posed with it
Thats the shit
I danced with it I did everything but play it
I couldn't do that
I sucked so bad and the kids laughed
And laughed at my silly ass
And we brought it back that afternoon
Riding back home with my mom in the car
Sat in the backseat and I was quiet
And I was thinking,I was a little disappointed
With myself but somewhere inside
Somewhere inside I knew that for a moment
Just a moment infant of those kids
In that backyard, I smelt blood

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere
And you know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared
I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
My feet they finally took root in the earth
But I got me a nice little place in the stars
I swear I found the key to the universe
In the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd
But when they said, "Sit down," I stood up

Ooh... growin' up
Ooh... growin' up

And it was bye bye New Jersey
I'm gonna be air born